Thanks Jason.
Position would be a bit mid-level since it expects 3-4 years in
Flex/Coldfusion. Do you feel the questions are pointless now or are they too
easy for mid-level position?
1, 2, 3 you listed are something most applicants might have today since each
opening in the technology field attracts lot of well qualified candidates in
today's market.
I went through the books by Careercup, programming interviews exposed to get a
feel of how developer interviews are done today and I estimate most companies
do that(focus on language competence, algorithms, data-structures, Computer
Science concepts like concurrency etc).
The idea of language competence comes from if someone has worked in CF for 3-4
years, he/she can get things done lot quickly in CF than someone who is a
skilled developer in C/C++, but new to CF. I imagine this is why lot of
start-ups want people with "N" years of experience in the
language/tool/database they are using.
I appreciate your comments and suggestions.
________________________________
From: Jason Vanhoy <jpvan...@gmail.com>
To: discussion@acfug.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: [ACFUG Discuss] Choosing a person with adequate CF skills
My first question would be are you hiring for an entry level, mid-level, or
senior position?
If you're hiring a senior position, none of the questions you outline is going
to be worth a hill of beans for choosing the right candidate in my opinion.
I come at this problem from the point of view of having been on many hundreds
of interviews, having interviewed people a significant number of times as well,
and making hiring decisions based on those interviews a number of times both
successfully and unsuccessfully.
In my humble opinion the technology world concentrates entirely too much on
technology in an interview for a developer (or, for that matter, for a network
engineer, DBA, etc., etc.)
A few basic questions to decide whether or not the candidate is simply lying
through their teeth on their resume are certainly in order. Maybe a few things
like, "What's the difference between == and ===?" or "Explain to me how a CFC
differs from the Custom Tag of yore?" or something that roughly targets the
functional awareness you're targeting. Also, maybe a question or three about
basic, non-language specific programming techniques are helpful. Some examples
might be "Can you explain to me some design patterns you've had experience with
and why they were or were not the right choice in those situations?" or "Can
you tell me what the difference is between a class and an object?"
Beyond about 20 or 30 minutes worth of this type of discussion, however, and
all you're doing is showing off, or asking the candidate to show off, arcane
and trivial knowledge. Developing software (web-delivered or otherwise) is not
an eyes-closed operation, and any specific knowledge an employee needs to
complete a task is readily available online, or in a book, or at a co-worker's
desk, or in the company wiki, or...you get my point. So, knowing that a Java
candidate, for example, knows off the top of his or her head what the
differences between final, finally, and finalize is, is completely immaterial
to whether or not he or she would be a good fit for your team.
Here are what I consider the questions that one should have answers to at the
end of a job interview, from the point of view of the interviewing agent (in
order of increasing importance):
1) Is the candidate basically competent in the general skill set required? That
is, for a software developer, do they have experience developing software in
SOME language, do they understand BASIC concepts and can they apply those
concepts.
2) Can the candidate express themselves well, professionally and competently?
That is, do they speak clearly, do they explain things well enough but not TOO
well? Do they understand the differences between site-specific knowledge and
global knowledge? Do they grasp the language I use and understand what I'm
saying, or, barring that, eloquently ask for clarifications that are logical
and understandable?
3) Does the candidate's personality mesh well with the team they're going to be
working with and will they likely enjoy being on the team? Will the team likely
enjoy them being there?
The great truth, at least in my experience, is that any competent developer can
fairly quickly get up to speed on a new language or platform. However, to quote
a good friend of mine (pardon the language) "you can't fix asshole."
I'll give you an example: It's been probably a decade since I did any
significant ColdFusion work. I would seriously have to have a syntax book
beside me for a week if I started writing it today. I've got a ton of Flex
experience, though, and very recent experience using it. Would I be a good
candidate for your position? Well, the answer is "maybe."
If I came into the interview and you asked me some question like, "Can you tell
me the difference between a class and an object?" and I gave you the following
answer: "Well, um, [drums fingers on table] a class is like...you know...how
something IS, like...you know...how like, all of them are made up and
stuff...but...um...[drums fingers again] an object is like just one of them,
like...just a single one, you know...like...[taps knuckles on chair arm]...you
know what I'm saying?" then the answer might change from "maybe" to "no".
However, if I said, "Well, a class is the how an object-oriented design defines
a real-world concept in code, and then an object is a single instance of that
class that one can then do work on." the answer might start looking closer to
"yes".
If you look at both answers closely it will become clear they ultimately say
the same, or a very similar, thing. However, one shows much better
communication and a much greater ability to express one's self than the other.
Additionally, if you and I are sitting in the conference room with several
senior members of your team, and someone cracks a joke. Let's say I mentioned
something about when I was first learning to code and how I relied on a bunch
of senior folks to help me along or something, and one of your team says,
"Well, if you can run, you walk, and if you can't walk you find someone to
carry you..." Now, if I come back with "huh?" that's one thing, but if I
respond with something like, "Shiny!" then you might start thinking,
"Hey...this guy might fit in around here!" (By the way, if you didn't get that
joke, it's a Firefly reference, and fairly obscure at that).
So, my long-winded response is really just to say, I think you're focusing too
much on the details and not enough on what's truly important about a candidate.
Or, maybe you're not and you just wanted some advice about the first few
technical aspects of the interview, and if so, ignore ALL my rambling.
I like your idea about having the candidate do some actual thinking on your
whiteboard. I'd hesitate to make it actual code, it would be more useful to see
pseudocode or block diagrams so you can see more of the person's thought
process rather than if they know syntax without a reference close by.
I love the idea of having the candidate discuss recent projects and the
failures or successes each may have had (as long as they can, some stuff is
going to be privileged/confidential or covered in an NDA or something).
I'd steer clear of operating system and networking concepts (unless you're
planning on having someone write you a networking app in a web language, why
would a candidate really need to know this?), or agile programming concepts
("agile" covers a huge range of development methodologies and nobody's version
of any one of them is the same as anyone else's, it's a red herring question
that probably won't tell you much).
Anyway, hopefully some of this helps, good luck in finding the right person for
that chair.
~JV
On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 1:32 PM, Chris <h_chris...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I am with a public university and asked to interview applicants with
Coldfusion(CF) and Flex skills for an opening. The position requires someone
who has worked 3-4 years in CF and Flex.
>
>
>I was moved into this position and I picked CF/Flex after I started so do not
>have a first hand experience of a CF/Flex interview, though a Web search
>reveals dozens of websites with questions.
>
>
>
>I have worked with Coldfusion 8 and 9 and I know I can ask questions about
>following topics.
>
>
>
>1. Check for CF basic understanding, ask about functions which are rarely used
>to test depth of knowledge in CF.
>
>2. Ask about CFC, Bean, Gateway to test OOP understanding in CF
>
>3. How the facade pattern is used in CF?
>
>4. Recent CF projects of candidate. Question the design, implementation
>decisions and possible performance improvements in the projects
>
>5. Ask them to develop a Bean on whiteboard.
>
>6. Contributions to an open source CF project
>
>
>
>Since the opening expects someone with a Bachelor's in Computer Science, I can
>ask the typical questions(algorithms, data structures, design patterns, OOP,
>contract by design, agile programming concepts, Operating System and
>Networking concepts, information security, bit fiddling in C, RTTI idiom in
>C++ assuming candidate lists C,C++ on his resume).
>
>
>
>I realize a Web search can reveal lot more questions, but since I have not
>interviewed someone for a CF background before, I want to know if items 1-6
>listed above are sufficient or do they need more additions?
>Are they too simple that most people who have worked 12-18 months in CF would
>know?
>
>
>
>I do not want to make the interview unduly hard or easy.
>
>
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>
>
>Thanks
>
>
>
>P.S. I went through the usual books Career cup, Programming Interviews exposed
>and their websites to learn how interviews are done in most places today.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @
>http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform
>
>For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists
>Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/
>List hosted by FusionLink
>-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @
http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform
For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists
Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/
List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com
-------------------------------------------------------------
